Mass Effect Reborn
by gothik
Summary: Calen Shepard died when the Normandy SR1 was blown up by enemies unknown, now she has to convince those who are supposed to be her closest friends and allies, that this time Cerberus is right. This is an AU Mass Effect, some of the dialogue is from the game others aren't , this is my own take on the Mass Effect Universe which is owned by Bioware and EA Games.
1. Chapter 1

MASS EFECT

REBORN

Commander Calen Hannah Shepard.

Mass Effect and the characters within belong to Bioware and EA games, all I own is Calen Shepard and the odd OC or three or four. I am making no money from this and this is purely for entertainment value.

PROLOGUE

Two and a half years before.

Calen Shepard opened one sleepy grey eye and finally the other as her vision adjusted from being in a deep and contented sleep to waking up. That moment that the bliss of sleep was broken by the thoughts of the waking world. She moved her arm across to the other side of the bed and smiled as she felt the warm soft skin of the woman beside her.

It had been Six months since they had defeated Saren, Sovereign and the Geth. She had offered to take her new friends home, but they had refused. Tali'Zorah had become such a part of the Engineering crew, Calen was worried that Adams might mutiny if she returned to the Flotilla. Of course Tali would have to return at some point, but for now she was happy to remain as part of Adams crew, and Greg had promoted her to assistant Chief Engineer. Everyone adored Tali, even Ashley was over protective of the Quarian, to the point that on a recent shore leave on Mindoir, Shepards home colony, she almost glared the skin off anyone who so much as looked at Tali wrong.

Garrus too had stayed, unsure as to whether he wanted to return to C-Sec after all the fun he had whilst hunting down Saren and the Geth. Wrex, well Wrex was happy to travel along with his new friends and those that had become more than that to him. In fact it was not unusual to see him and Garrus sparring together, even teaching Shepard a few things that she did not know about. A bond had forged between them all, even Ashley had relaxed more around the Aliens on her crew and it was not unusual to see her having a wrestling match with Garrus, and Wrex observing making his usual sarcastic remarks.

However, as much as Calen had grown to love the Krogan, Turian and Quarian, none of them held her heart quite as much as the woman beside her. She had promised Liara that she would return her to a Prothean dig site, Liara had refused to go. Telling Shepard that she had been rather spoilt by the guns, explosions and besides, they had been sent on Geth patrol duty, some of those patrols took them by former Prothean worlds which meant that with a archaeological team from the Normandy Liara had gone anyway. Joker had remarked that you might take the Asari from Thessia, but you couldn't take the Archaeologist out of the Asari.

It had come as no surprise to the crew that Liara spent her nights in the Commanders quarters, and none of them battered an eyelid. In truth it had been Pressley that had quietly suggested they share the Commanders quarters. Seeing as the attempts at sneaking around had failed, miserably. Liara had gone a slight hue of red, Ash had remarked that it was nice to see Miss Prothean expert blush.

Now Calen couldn't imagine not waking up to the sight of Liara in the morning, it seemed to set her day just right. She closed her eyes again, today was her off duty day and later she would be having a friendly firearms contest with Wrex, Ash and Garrus. Now though she just wanted a couple more minutes.

She opened her eyes again as she felt Liara move and watched as she moved gracefully from their bed and cross to the coffee machine, set it for two mugs and pulled a gown around her.

"Did you have to cover such a gorgeous body right at this moment?" Calen asked, her voice at the tone that Liara loved to hear, her morning voice was husky and a little deeper than normal.

Liara glanced over her shoulder and said nothing until she had got Calens mug, crossed to her side of the bed and set it on the table. She perched herself on the edge of the bed, leant forward and brushed her lips lightly across the Commanders. Calen sat herself up and held Liaras hand for a moment.

"You know, we are meeting the Flotilla at the end of the month" Liara reminded her.

"Yeah, time for Tali to return to her people. I am gonna miss her so much" Calen scowled a little.

"She said she would return" Liara reminded her.

"Yeah but the Normandy runs a lot better after Tali's worked on her,"

"That sounds like Joker talking" Liara scoffed.

"He's right too. Tali has a gift for engines, Greg is good, but Tali...hell Adams reckons if the Alliance ever started recruiting outside humans, she would be chief engineer in weeks" Calen let go of Liara's hand and picked her mug up pausing before she sipped it to see a chain hanging from the handle. "What's this?" She asked curiously.

"Well I am leaving soon to join the dig on Ilos."

"Don't remind me" Shepards Scowl deepened.

"Wrex is going home and Garrus...well I think he will return to C-Sec and take up Spectre training, you know he idolises you"

"Don't change the subject" Calen arched an eyebrow.

Liara chuckled a little "Its something I picked up on Mindoir last month, I've just been waiting for the right moment to give you it. I believe its a human token of...affection"

Calen carefully took it from the handle of her mug and setting it back on the table looked at the necklace to see half a heart hanging on the end.

"My parents had one of these. Whenever mum was off doing surveys for Alliance colonial affairs, or dad was off world doing an engineering project, apparently the two half's would bring them both together even when they were far apart."

Liara took it and put it round Shepards neck, lowering her arms around the Commanders neck as she did.

"Oh very smooth T'Soni"

"I try. I did not want it to cause you pain Calen"

"It hasn't. I managed to get them before the Batarians ransacked the bodies. Its all I have left of my parents apart from memories. This," She looked at the heart and realised that Liara's name was delicately inscribed in Asari script on the centre, on Liaras half was her name in italics. "is a beautiful thought and I will wear it until I see you again T'Soni"

"You better Shepard" Liara warned mockingly.

The Asari went to kiss her when the ship was suddenly rocked by a huge explosion. "What the hell was that!" Shepard jumped out of bed now wide awake and was in her armour quicker than Liara could move out of her gown.

**++This is Moreau, All hands on deck, repeat all hands on deck we are under attack++**

Liara ran through the now exploding corridors, Ashley was beside her, the ship was being attacked by a vessel that no one had seen before. Pressley was dead, killed in the first blast and Joker was trying desperately to stop any more of his baby from being shorn off into space.

Ashley moved Liara to one side, both in their battle armour, as a female crewman flew through the air and landed with a sickening crunch to the floor. Liara visibly winced as she heard the neck snap.

"Tell Calen I am going to evacuate the lower decks," Ash shouted above the screams of the Crew and the explosions of the burning Normandy. "I want to make sure Tali and Adams get out with the rest of the Engineers."

Liara nodded and headed to what had been Kaidans old post to see her lover put her N7 breather helmet on over her black and silver N7 armour, the red and white stripe down one arm clearly visible in the eerie glow of the panel light. Liara could feel the waves of anger emitting from the Commander like a barely suppressed Tsunami, her crew were dying and they were under attack from whatever the hell that ship was.

Coming out from Shepards quarters, Liara had caught a glimpse of it as she had gone to the CIC. It was like a living gigantic tube of flesh, its sheer size should have stopped it from making the turns it made to keep the Normandy in its sights, despite Jeff's skill, no ship could have done that, but then again, that was disproved with Sovereign 6 months ago.

"Shepard, will the alliance get here?" Liara asked, catching a crewman as he stumbled and letting him go to help others.

"They damn well better" Calens voice was dark, the last time it had sounded like that was when she had faced Saren for the last time.

An explosion rocked through the canteen and Liara lost her footing, Shepard caught her and held onto her for a moment or two longer than was necessary.

"I need you to co-ordinate with Ashley and Wrex, and get the crew to the escape pods" Shepard told her.

Liara grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out a small fire near them "Jokers still on the bridge, he's not leaving, and neither am I" The Asari sounded defiant, she was not leaving Shepard ever, she had already made her mind up about that one.

Calen grabbed the fire Extinguisher and moved back "I will get Joker, you just get the crew off the Normandy"

"Shepard!"

Calen stopped by the remains of the Medbay and turned a little, her voice heavy with sorrow

"Please Liara, now!"

"Aye Aye Ma'am" Liara had every faith that her woman would get back to her, and ran off to do as her lover and her Commander ordered.

Liara ran through the Normandy to the Escape shuttles. Garrus came up carrying Tali who had broken her leg in a fall from one of the upper ducts, Wrex was helping Ashley walk Adams and Chakwas.

"Everyone in come on go go go" Liara yelled at everyone in the Escape bay, as soon as they were in and she heard the locks on all the escape pods lock she jumped into her one, the door behind her swished shut and her harness fell over her shoulders.

"Where's Calen?" Wrex asked.

"Going to get Joker" Liara forced her voice to remain steady.

"There's a evac tube on the bridge" Ashley assured them "She'll get Joker and join us then"

Karin got Tali comfortable then sat in her seat, just as her harness came down, she held Tali's hand as the pressure of the pods rush from the tube forced them all back into their seats the lights from the launch tube suddenly vanished to be replaced by the black ocean beyond and, like the surviving crew, they could only watch as the vessel sliced through the Normandy leaving her dead in the water.

Joker was stubborn, Calen thought, in fact she had always known Joker was a stubborn arse, he had no respect for authority, except Anderson, Hackett and herself, but his stubbornness now was bordering on reckless.

"Joker come on!" Calen was loosing her patience.

She understood his feelings, she would give anything to save the Normandy herself, but even she could see that the girl was dead.

"No, I can still save her, dammit Calen, I can still save the Normandy!" Joker insisted.

Calen put her hand on his arm, a little too hard, but it made him wince and look at her "The Normandy is dead Joker, there is no way she is coming back from this, half of her is floating debris, Engineering is gone. Tali and Adams barely ejected the drive core saving your arse. Dying is not going to bring her or the dead crew back!"

Joker looked at his Commander and finally relented. However just as she helped him up and into the escape pod he shouted a warning to Shepard, the alien was coming around for another attack. He could only watch as the beam cut through what remained of the bridge like a knife through butter.

"SHEPARD NO!" Joker screamed as the explosion sent Calen flying out through the gaping hole behind her. Shepard looked at Joker through her helmet visor.

"Goodbye Jeff" She muttered and slammed her hand on the release button, sending him to safety as her ship exploded into its final death throws before disintegrating around her and finally the alien vessel moved away.

Liara slammed her hand against the Tube window as Shepards figure seemed to look around her and look right at her, then grab at her air tubes as a piece of floating debris sliced through her suits air filters. She screamed Shepards name, causing Garrus, Wrex and Ashley to move to her side. Wrex wanted to get out there, he knew that he would survive long enough to bring his friends home, that was why Krogans had redundant nervous systems, not to mention his armour would be enough to get him there.

He was about to do just that but as he watched he slumped, Calen had been caught up in the planets gravitational pull and was too far, too far for him to reach her in time. Ashley closed her eyes and muttered a prayer, Tali's hand on her shoulder, if they could see her face they'd have seen a wide eyed, open mouthed young woman crying as she sat watching the death of her friend with a horrible hollow feeling in her chest.

Wrex and Garrus were beside Liara but, like the crying screaming Asari, all they could do was watch as Calen Shepard, Saviour of the Citadel, Guardian of the Council and the first Human Spectre vanished into the afterlife, alone.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER ONE:

Cerberus.

Freedoms Progress.

The New Normandy.

**CERBERUS**

"Wake up, Shepard wake up!"

The stern voice brought the Commander to her waking senses. She winced in pain as she moved off the bed she had been laying on. She tried to focus her thoughts, where was she? Who was that ordering her about?

"Shepard, the base is under attack, I need you up and about!"

The voice was familiar, she had a vague memory of waking up to that same tone telling her to go back to sleep. She also had a very vivid memory of the Normandy exploding before her eyes. She managed to quell the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her. Sudden movements were not good it seemed. She wanted to tell the woman who was ordering her about to shut her god damned mouth but the sound of gunfire halted the words from erupting from her mouth.

She got to her feet, holding onto the side for support as she did so. That woman said there was a gun in the cabinet in front of her...so there was, looked like a standard Predator pistol. She made her way to the next room and found some ammo laying on the floor.

She tried to tune that annoying voice out, get some bearings on where she was, no such luck, she ducked down behind a glass barrier as a trio of mechs walked into the room, firing at her.

"Stay in cover Shepard."

Annoyed, disorientated and feeling as sick as hell the newly awakened Commander snapped, "I think that's fairly obvious, don't you!" She fired her pistol three times, neat shots, kill shots and waited for moment, then got to her feet "Now, tell me where to go then shut the hell up for five minutes, at least until I get my bearings."

The reply that came back were certainly caustic enough but, the voice did as Shepard demanded, she took out some more mechs on the way, with the woman telling her that this had been a medical facility, and now someone had hacked the mechs and sent them to kill the Commander. Shepard rolled her eyes at that one, someone was always trying to kill her, damn it was getting to be a way of life for her.

She reached the top of the stairs and found a grenade launcher. She readied and it and as soon as the doors opened, let loose with one. The voice was mildly surprised by the sounds of it, it showed when she said nice shot. She took the floor down to one level and ran through the fire bringing her outside to another office, this time the voice did shut up, but not because she wanted to, because someone, or more to be more exact, some things had closed in on her. Part of Calen was glad for the quiet, the other half wasn't. She shot the two crawling mechs and took a moment to look around her. There were a couple of consoles and pressing one, a male voice emitted from the speakers, explaining how the funding for the Lazarus Project had exceeded two and a half billion credits. Whomever funded this was very well connected and wealthy. She paused by another console and the face of the woman's voice she had been listening too a few moments ago appeared.

She looked to be an attractive woman, but that voice was...severe and Shepard wondered if she was actually a person or a school headmistress. She explained that the Lazarus Project had been a success and that Shepard was alive. Calen stepped back in shock, she was dead? How could she be dead, she was walking around. She looked at her hands, and her arms, then stopped by a piece of mirrored glass.

She was alive alright, her hair was longer than she remembered, but her face, there were a series of scars on her cheeks that glowed slightly. She touched her own face turning the jaw one way than another, she had so many questions but right now, she had to get off this base, the woman had said to meet her in the shuttle bay, god knows where that was but, that was where she was heading. With a last look back at her reflection she reloaded her pistol, grabbed some extra clips and made her way out of the room.

The raven haired woman unleashed a flurry of biotic attacks that might have given an Asari pause for a moment, for a human she was skilled and deadly. Her overload hit each of the five mechs in turn, giving her a moment to pick them off. With the last of the mechs falling and then exploding before her she turned and tried to clear her head to think straight.

Someone had hacked the mechs and overridden their programming, turning them from benevolent security and protection details to deadly killing machines. Even the big ones had been changed, someone inside had done this, there was no malfunction, and as she quickly read the computer readouts she began to realise just who had been responsible for this. They had been good, covered their arses but forgot that with the hidden security protocols Cerberus used, nothing was ever completely hidden. Everyone hid a trail and that was what the Illusive Man had known when he wrote the hidden security protocols.

She shook her head and wondered who had paid the man enough to betray one of the most powerful business men on Terra, if not the entirety of Alliance Space. There was only one answer to that, no other organisation had that kind of clout or pull, except Cerberus itself. The Shadowbroker.

There was a shadowy figure that seemed to have their hands in all the pies on the political scene, and just how did the Shadowbroker know about Shepard being here, and being the subject of Project Lazarus? And what information did he have on that cretin to make him betray his oaths after many years of exemplary service? Or did John Wilson suddenly get too greedy and looked for another career option.

She pushed her black hair back and took a deep breath, Shepard would be at the shuttle bay soon enough, if she hooked up with another operative. Miranda Lawson took a deep breath and made her way out of the room she had been cornered in. If John Wilson believed that he had just murdered her, then he was in for a rude awakening, if he was still alive and on the station. He had just murdered several hundred personnel, her personnel, her staff and for what? To kill Shepard? He had worked hard to bring her back from the dead so why kill her now?

Keeping her wits about her she made her way through the back corridors, ignoring the dead that lay strewn about the path she took. She recalled her mission to Omeaga two years previous. When they had recovered what had been left of Shepards body, he had voiced that there was not enough left to even grow a finger let alone repair an entire body. Miranda had told him to shut the hell up and just do as he was told. She knew what she was doing.

She was also aware that when the body was returned to Cerberus, there had been Shadowbroker agents after it too, no doubt to hand to the Collectors when the time came, although what they wanted with the body she couldn't even begin to guess at. All she knew was the Shadowbroker had a contract with the Collectors to get Shepards body back, anything beyond that was a mystery for another time.

Right now she had to get off this station with Shepard, the report she would have to make, was going to be a headache in itself.

"Come on over!"

Shepard pressed herself against a wall and peered round the corner, her gun in her hand ready, her body tingling as her biotics began to wake up. She saw a dark skinned man, darker skinned then Anderson, ducking behind a balcony and unleashing a pull shooting the mechs as they flew into the air.

She made her way in and ducking crouched beside the black and white uniformed man. He turned and the surprise on his face was evident enough. He had obviously not expected to see Commander Calen Shepard up and about.

"Damn things must be bad if Miranda's got you up and about" His voice held awe.

Shepard ran a cool gaze over him. He was handsome enough dark brown eyes, close cropped black hair and a goatee. He held himself like a military man. Even so she wasn't sure why he would be looking at her with a mix of awe and surprise.

"Miranda?"

"She's the head of this facility" He explained.

"Ah the woman who was ordering me about. Makes sense now, and you are?"

"Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, Alliance Marines retired" Taylor responded.

Calen nodded and ducked a little as more mechs entered the room and began firing. Their mechanical voices asking their targets to surrender.

"Where the hell am I?" She scowled.

"Tell you what Commander, you help me get rid of these mechs and I'll answer any questions you may have. Like you I am a biotic so lets get to work"

Shepard shrugged and timed her shots, she watched as he pulled another mech and then she hit it with a shockwave that sent it spinning into the wall, shattering as it did so. After a few moments the combined biotic team work paid off and silence filled the room once more.

"We better get off this base" Taylor got to his feet.

"I got one question Taylor" Calen sat for a moment, her side protesting, after so long being inactive so much energy in a short space of time was tiring her. "Where am I?"

"This is a facility built for one thing and one thing only. To bring you back" Jacob helped her stand.

"What was I injured or something?"

"Whets the last thing you remember Commander?"

Calen rubbed her brow and shrugged a little "The Normandy exploding, I remember my air running out then I woke up here."

"That was two and a half years ago" Jacob told her, his voice being sympathetic, more so when he saw the expression of shock that crossed the Commanders face. "The Alliance had declared you dead."

"How bad was I?"

"You were dead Commander, when they brought you here, you were nothing but frozen meat and tubes. There was not a lot left of you to be honest. Atmospheric burn up the frozen planet you were found on...and I don't know much else, to be honest Miranda will have the answers you need."

"So I'm a clone"

"No Ma'am, you are the real Commander Calen Hannah Shepard, born on Mindoir and one of the few survivors of a Batarian slave grab."

"What happened to my crew?" Her voice sounded distant, far away as if she was trying to digest what he had told her.

"When the Alliance found the survivors, there were twenty crew unaccounted for and they were mostly lower decks. Navigator Pressley was the most senior officer who had died. The crew were reassigned to other vessels. The non-human crew, well they went their separate ways, Liara, the Quarian Tali, the Turian and Krogan all went to other places. I couldn't tell you where they were now or what they were doing."

Calen was silent for a long time "So ex Lieutenant Taylor, what do you do here?" She asked.

"I am head of station security, amongst other things" He told her "I was getting ready for some shut eye when the alarms went off and the mechs started attacking the place. Love to know how that happened."

"Seeing as you know your way around, I'd be better off following you then."

"It's my honour Commander."

Again with the awed voice. Calen was in no mood to pander to any kind of hero worship. She ached, her face itched with whatever was under that facial scaring and she was trying to accept that she had been dead for two years. Her memories were hazy at the moment, fuzzy but one slipped into sharp focus, and she put her hand to her throat.

Jacob reached into his pocket and handed her the necklace. "This was found in your hand. I put it in my pocket before anyone else moved it. I figured it was important to you and well...you know" Shepard saw the Asari script shining like new "I cleaned it up, was a bit of a mess when I got it" Jacob explained. Calen nodded her thanks, unwilling to talk, her throat had constricted a little and she put it round her neck.

She followed Jacob staying behind him, still unsure of what or who he worked for, and still unable to comprehend that she had been a corpse that had been brought back from the dead. She wondered what technology that had used, as far as she had known, bringing the dead back to life was consigned to science fiction films, novels and horror stories, she clearly remembered how she died but the rest, was a blur.

They made their way through the corridors, more dead bodies. Some one called Wilson had contacted Jacob and told them he was trapped in a computer room. That name at least was familiar, although at the moment she wasn't sure where from.

The mechs were everywhere, and it had become more and more apparent that not only were they killing anything that was organic, but gunning for her, Taylor had muttered that they were certainly hunting her. Everyone else was more nor less collateral damage.

They found Wilson on the floor, sitting with his back against a barrier and nursing a gunshot wound to his leg. Taylor slapped some medi-gel on it but as Wilson began to explain that he had come to the server room to attempt to fix the problem with the mechs, Calen took a look at the wound, she had seen leg wounds before but this...this was not inflicted by a mech, for one thing there were no mech bodies about and yet there were plenty of human bodies.

"Thanks Shepard, didn't think you'd be saving my life, guess that makes us even."

"Not by a long shot" Calen muttered, still looking at the bodies around them.

"I came in here to fix things, try and put this right, but the damn mechs got in, killed everyone, if I hadn't been where I was, they would have killed me too."

"We didn't ask why you were here" Jacob frowned a little "What are you doing here anyway, you're not cleared for this wing, you're bio-wing"

"Didn't you listen to me Jacob? Or has working with the Ice Queen blocked your hearing? I was trying to put right what had happened here. Speaking of the Ice Queen, where is Miranda?"

"Shepard?" Jacob asked the silent Commander.

"There were gunshots and explosions, don't know where she was though" Calen explained.

"Well then, there are two explanations, Lawson is either a traitor or she's dead" Wilson sighed

"If she was a traitor, then why wake me up?" Shepard slightly arched her eyebrow "doesn't make sense to me"

"OK then, so she's not a traitor, but she was in lab 10 and that place swarmed with those things. She's dead" Wilson sounded a little too triumphant.

"Not Miranda" Jacob asserted "It'll take more then a few mechs to drop her."

"Look" Calen snapped "I don't know who any of you are and I don't care, I just want off this station and back to my life thanks"

"This is getting tense, Commander, if I tell you who we work for will you trust me?" Jacob asked.

"Jury's out on that one Taylor"

"If you wanna piss the boss off Jacob its your ass" Wilson shook his head "now is not the time."

Jacob shook his head "and getting the Commander to help us won't work if she's expecting a shot in the back. Commander, the people that brought you back, well we work for Cerberus"

Calen almost staggered under the weight of Jacobs words. Cerberus, those terrorist bastards? She felt like she was going to throw up, all those experiments, especially the ones with her Alliance squad and the Thresher Maws...Acuze shot into sharp focus in her mind and the broken tired features of Corporal Andreas Toombs. The death of an Alliance Admiral not to mention using Rachni, Thorians and other experiments.

Now those bastards had brought her back to life, and for what? To own her? Not a chance, not a chance in hell. She lashed out and caught Taylor under the jaw and sent him flying, Wilson stood straight.

"What the hell are you doing...omph"

She charged into him with a powerful vanguard charge that slowed time around her. She stood over the groaning Wilson and watched as Jacob got to his feet.

"I can't say I blame you for that Commander" he cracked his jaw a little, but inside he was hurt, his plan to smoothly ready Shepard for the news of her new boss had just flown out the window.

"If you think I am going to work for you or your demented sick boss think again" She warned "He should have made sure I was dead on Acuze"

"That wasn't us Commander."

"It was fucking Cerberus, don't lie to me Taylor!" She warned.

"Yes it was Cerberus, but it was a rogue cell, one that went too far, it was dealt with"

"How fucking convenient" Calens tone was snide, and disbelieving.

Taylor knew she didn't believe a damn thing he said about it, to be honest he hadn't believed all of it, but as Miranda once said, to maintain efficiency not all of Cerberus knew what the others were doing, only the Illusive Man, knew who did what and where.

Shepard pointed at the groaning Wilson "You might want to ask him which one of the dead humans over there shot him, cause it sure as hell wasn't a mech. No bodies? Just human bodies? His story has more holes than a Hanars feelers" She stalked off out the room leaving Jacob frowning at Wilson.

After fighting a string of mechs in the shuttle bay approach, and Calen finding another recording that detailed what had happened to her, they reached the shuttle bay, as the doors opened Miranda Lawson took one look at the shocked features of Wilson then with a snarl shot him in the face.

"Surprised to see me?" She asked the corpse viscously.

Calen lowered her gun as Jacob stared at the body "and there goes your chance to find out who he worked for" Her tone was dripping with sarcasm. "or do Cerberus have other methods?"

Miranda turned her gaze to Jacob, a little mocking in her tone "Your conscience pricked a little?"

"Come on Miri, lying to the Commander is not going to get her to help us."

"I said I wasn't going to work for you Taylor" Calen snarled.

"You wouldn't be working for us, but with us" Miranda looked at her "Unless you want me to leave you here, but I just spent two years bringing you back, be a shame for you to walk away without finding out why, wouldn't it"

Calen looked around her "What about the others?"

"That man had the mechs kill them all, my staff, and I just paid him back for it."

"Miranda, Wilson was one of us..who, what. Why?" Jacob was having trouble processing it all.

"He was paid by the Shadowbroker. Kill us all and Shepard and take her body back to them"

"What? Why?" Calen frowned.

"If you want the answer to that Commander, you will have to come with us" Miranda saw the pendant around Shepards neck "and maybe should you ever see Doctor T'Soni again you might want to ask her"

Calen grabbed Miranda's arm "What are you going on about? What's Liara got to do with all this? Don't you dare tar her with the same shit stain as your group"

Miranda removed Shepards hand from her arm "She's changed a lot Commander, she was the one who gave you to us"

"Liara...what?"

"Like I said, a lots changed and your precious Asari along with it. Shall we go? The Illusive Man does not like to be kept waiting."

For the second time that morning Calens world came crashing down.

Miranda watched as Shepard headed down towards the holographic hub. She took no victory in seeing Shepards crest fallen expression when she found out about Liara, in fact the little field test she had conducted on the shuttles had taken some of the fire out of the woman's demeanour. Having not bothered with things like romance or relationships except one night stands or...she glanced across to where Jacob stood looking out the window nursing a very bruised jaw...relationships that had only one thing in common, she had no idea how the Commander felt, but she was certain she was not jumping for joy at the news.

Cerberus had caused her no end of trouble in her hunt for Saren, not to mention before she had even become a Spectre. Of course it was Cerberus, they had reasoned that whatever put Humanity on top and in control was worth any sacrifice, but Miranda, whilst loyal to the ideals of Cerberus, knew that some of those Commanders had gone way over the top. Even so, she knew where her loyalties lie and she was able to disregard the more darker past of the organisation, especially now.

Hopefully the Commander would come to see that in the end.

Calen watched as the figure rose from his chair and came towards her. A cigarette in-between his fingers and a glass of Bourbon in the other hand.

"So tell me Shepard, how do you feel?"

"Don't even ask me things like that" Calen snarled "You don't have the right to those questions."

Her venom didn't even make the suited man flinch instead he chuckled a little "You sound just like your father."

"How do you know my father?" Calen snapped.

"We were friends Calen, although I must admit the last time I saw you, you were what eight years old. Your father and I went way back, what happened to him and your mother was atrocious I am sorry about that, I couldn't get there in time..."

"Shut the Fuck up and leave my parents out of this," She clenched her fists. "Why did you bring me back."

"Because we know what the truth is, the council and Alliance they don't want to believe anything except that Saren was a rogue operative operating under delusions of grandeur" The Illusive Man returned to his seat.

"And what is it 'we' know"

"That there is a war coming, and like most modern wars, its being fought in the shadows and out of the main spotlight, waiting for the chance to strike its apocalyptic blow."

"The Reapers" Calen sighed heavily.

She knew that they weren't done, she had argued with Udina and Anderson, wanting to know what she and her crew were being sent to chase Geth, when the real threat was still out there.

"The Reapers" The Illusive Man nodded and sat forward "The Council want to deny they existed, that Sovereign was the only one and there is no reaper threat, but, entire human colonies have vanished, thousands of humans simply vanished, something is attacking the colonies in the Terminus Systems and leaving them dead in the water, devoid of any sapient life."

"Reapers harvested entire worlds and all Organics, not just humans." Calen scoffed

"I would say that tens of thousands of humans is the definition of Harvesting and maybe, just maybe you killing Sovereign got humanity noticed."

Calen signed and rubbed her brow "If what you say is true then I might consider working alongside you."

"I would be very disappointed if you didn't want the proof for yourself. We had reports of a world, Freedoms Progress, it went dark twelve hours ago, I need you to go there and find whatever proof you can. If you don't find it then we can go our separate ways and no hard feelings."

Calen had the eerie feeling she was being manipulated here but at the end of the day it didn't sound like the Alliance or Council gave a toss about missing colonies, so what did she have to loose? She looked at him as a memory rose unbidden into her mind.

A casually suited man coming to her parents home on Mindoir, her father being happy to see him and her mother less so. In fact she recalled her mother had been positively frosty. Her father however had been over the moon.

"Jack Harper" Calen muttered and looked at the man before her, he smiled and bowed his head.

With that the connection closed and Calen was left with a ghost on her shoulder, and that ghost had her fathers voice.

**FREEDOMS PROGRESS**

The shuttle ride to Freedoms Progress had been quiet, apart from a few snippets of conversation, the rest had been mostly silent. As they approached the colony from the East, Calen took in the view around her. A beautiful world, it reminded her a little of her own home world, Mindoir, yet, even on the approach to the main city, they could see the empty farms and villages. No one moved, animals grazed in the fields but no humans could be seen.

No women, men and children. That hit the hardest, no children. Whomever was doing this were very very thorough.

They landed just outside the main docking area and Shepard stepped out first, the silence rang louder here than anywhere else, it was a ghost town, like one of the old western towns on earth that had been abandoned for something more modern. Jacob shook his head a little, he, like the Commander had hoped to find some survivors, but even on the fly over and now, stepping from the shuttle to look around him that hope fled.

Miranda for once remained silent, she really did not have the words to convey what she had seen flying over or landing. She had changed out of her white and black uniform, for an armoured black and gold uniform, her headset looked like a very expensive modern pair of glasses, the data feed scrolling up one side.

Jacob was wearing the same uniform he had on when he met Shepard, she was a little fed up with seeing how tight it fit in some places. Assuming she stayed with the bunch of murdering sons-of-bitches, then she would insist he wear a proper set of armour on missions. What he wore casual on whatever vessel they would be on, well that would be up to him. She didn't much care for him or his attitude, and she certainly didn't much care for his barely hidden hero worship of her.

However, there was obviously something between Miranda and himself, what was it Miranda had told her? Oh yeah, Cerberus didn't have the same stringent regulations on fraternisation. Why she was told that was unusual, but every now and then Miranda would shoot Jacob a look that said they had, at least at one point, been more than friends.

Calen herself wore her N7 armour, Miranda had it made for her, for which she was very grateful, at least it was something she could relate to. Her helmet let her data feed scroll up and, like Miranda's, there were no life signs at all.

"We better search the buildings" She sighed, the sinking feeling of finding anyone was becoming stronger.

They searched building to building. Nothing, and Jacob had even pointed out that it looked like the colonists had been settling down for an evening meal. Whatever had happened to them, happened fast, there were no signs of gunfire, no bodies, and no signs of struggle. It was like they had all been transported out of here before anyone could raise any defence.

She thought about the old Science fiction vids she had watched as a child, it reminded her of them although she found that a little hard to believe right now. Just as she was finding Miranda's statement about Liara even harder to believe. Calen leant on one of the stone stair walls and looked out over empty town. She waited for a moment and silently pointed, there was the gateway that led into the main hub of the colony.

Maybe, just maybe someone managed to hide in one of the observation towers or the generator bunker. She wanted desperately to find someone. As they walked through they were attacked not only by mechs but Ferris mechs, mechanical hounds that acted like security dogs,

"What the fuck are they!" Shepard demanded as she ducked beside Miranda.

"They were created two and a half years ago" Miri explained, loosening off an overload "They are very effective, and someone is here, because they should have tagged us as human. They have been programmed to attack"

"Well that's something at least" Calen slammed a pull field then followed up with a biotic throw that sent the mech hound into the side and exploding.

"Before we continue Commander, I want to say a couple of things"

"Can it wait until we have sorted out what's going on?" Shepard was brusque in her reply.

Miranda couldn't blame her for that one, when the had reached Ontario station and Calen had attempted a conversation with her, she had been rather cold.

"You do realise, that you have access to the biotic spectrum, you are not just a Vanguard Shepard"

"Some of your handy work Lawson?" Shepard asked as she shot another Fenris.

"No that's just it...it was always there, when we implanted the cybernetics into you I read the readouts that came up. You were classed as a Vanguard because that was your strongest field, but Shepard you can use any biotic ability."

Shepard looked at her for a moment and shook her head, "This week just keeps getting better and better."

"It might have something to do with the drive core burst over Mindoirs polar region, before you were born." Miranda explained.

"Can we do this later, I think I have had enough shocks for one month don't you" Without waiting for a response she stood up, her body glowed and she moved across the space between Miranda and the last mech with astonishing speed, sending it back and over the edge of the walkway. Terminal system failures emitting from its mechanical voice as it fell.

"I hate mechs" Calen muttered, then drawing her Tempest, she moved into the next building to see four Quarians studying a map.

"Cerberus!" One unhooked a shotgun "Shoot the bastards."

"No one will shoot anyone Prazza, not unless...wait a minute...Calen!"

For the first time since she woke up Calen felt like crying. There before her stood Tali'Zorah, Calen holstered her gun and grabbed Tali, hugging her so close that Tali knew that it was her Calen, her friend, and she hugged her back.

"I thought you were dead...what happened?" Tali had a thousand and one questions then stepped back "Wait this could be a trap."

Calen took Tali's hand "Did the information on the Geth I gave to you help with your pilgrimage Tali?"

"Yes, yes it did...oh Calen its so good to see you!"

"Likewise Tali" She hugged her again and stepped back "So, want to tell me what's going on"

"What we are working with Cerberus now?" The one called Prazza shook his head "Fuck that"

"No!" There was an authoritative tone in Tali's voice that Shepard had never heard before, she smiled a little "You are working for me, if you can't deal with that, then go back to the ship Bosh'tet" Tali turned her attention to her old Commander "We are here for a Quarian named Veetor, he was here on pilgrimage and we want to take him home."

"I thought you all went on ships" Calen frowned in puzzlement.

"We can choose where we want to go, Veetor always wanted to help on a small colony and he was always nervous in big crowds."

"Pah she's being too kind" Prazza snarled, "What she means is, he is unstable, and add to that he might have damage to his suit and his CO2 scrubbers then he will have a fever too."

"So, what happened to make you all hate Cerberus so much? Tali I can understand, but the rest of the Quarians?"

Miranda shifted a little, the Commander noticed the uncomfortable expression that hit her features. This was going to be a dozer of a revelation that was certain, nice to see the Ice Queen could get uncomfortable.

"Cerberus attacked our Flotilla, killed some of our people and tried to blow up one of our ships" Prazza explained.

"That's not exactly how I would have put it Commander..." Miranda began,

"We can stand here and play the blame game or find this Veetor and get the answers we need" Jacob interjected.

"Tali," Calen asked, her grey eyes still focused on Miranda "We should team up, we'd have a better chance of finding him, use the old communications code we used on the Normandy OK Tali?"

"Good idea" Tali nodded "and Calen, its good to see you alive and I am glad to see that you are still in charge"

"We have a lot of catching up to do Tali, but it can be done later."

Tali stepped forward and lowering her voice spoke in Quarian, she had taught Calen her language on their downtime between missions, it helped when Tali wanted a private conversation.

"I saw you die Calen,"

"I did die Tali, I am still trying to wrap my head around it all. Have you seen anyone else?"

Tali was silent for a moment "I saw Ashley a few months ago but I haven't seen anyone else."

Calen nodded and rested a hand on her shoulder, "Take care Tali, lets get this done"

Tali left with the other Quarians and for the first time since she woke up into this nightmare, she was happy.

They made their way through the colony, destroying the flying drones that Tali warned them about. She also warned them that Prazza and her squad had gone on ahead, wanting to get to Veetor first. Miranda scathingly uttered that they should not have trusted them. Calen glanced at her.

"I don't blame them Lawson, if Cerberus did that to me, I wouldn't want them touching anyone I cared about...oh that's right, they did"

Miranda didn't say anything more about it. They moved to the large gate and did as the Commander directed, taking a position either side of the massive gates, Shepard took point. Tali opened the doors and in they went, taking cover and witnessing the deaths of Prazza and his squad at the hands of a YMIR mech, A brute of a machine with rocket launchers and Gatling gun attachment. Due to its new programming it showed no mercy, even treading on a Quarian female before blowing her head off at point blank range with a rocket launcher. That was overkill by anyone's standards.

Calen peered round the corner to see Tali safely out of harms way. She glanced at Taylor and chucked him a rocket launcher, then blink clicked Mirandas icon.

"Commander?"

"Hit it with a large Overload, when I've charged it, hit it again with a warp"

"Yes Commander"

"Taylor"

"Commander"

"Keep distracting it with those rockets"

"Yes ma'am"

Shepard waited for Miranda to hit with the overload, it was a massive hit too, took its shields down completely. She gathered her focus and charged, smashing into the machine with such force it stumbled backwards, at that moment Miranda hit it with a warp field and shortly after another. Calen did another charge, just as Jacobs rocket launcher hit home. Calen dived for cover as the YMIR exploded.

"Nice work" Shepard complimented and gathered her strength together. Then, with the two Cerberus operatives headed into a secluded building.

The voice that came from the seat in front of them was disorientated, scared and racked with fever. He kept going on about swarms and monsters, monsters coming back for him, they never forget. Shepard didn't get an answer when she called his name, and Jacob was not convinced that they would get anything from the Quarian.

Using her omni-tool Calen waved it and the screens went blank, causing the Quarian to turn round. The shock at seeing them reflected in his voice. Calen gently explained that they had just got there and could he tell them anything.

He did better then that, he showed them.

Before their eyes, they saw the colonists taken from their homes, and put into piles, then moved into what looked like stasis pods and taken away. The creatures that took them looked like giant bugs and Shepard had never seen anything like them before, Miranda and Jacob had.

"What are they?" Shepard wanted to know.

"Collectors" Miranda whispered, afraid that if she said it too loud, they might jump out the screen at them.

"The what?" Calen arched an eyebrow "I've never seen or heard of them before."

"Not surprising Commander" Jacob told her "They are so rare most people think they are a nothing more then a myth. They come into our space, trade their technology for whatever they want and disappear beyond the Omega IV relay."

Veetor went on to show them the swarms that seemed to incapacitate the humans, Miranda thought they might be some sort of neurotoxin, designed to keep their victims in stasis until they were ready to move them elsewhere. When Veetor told them he had readings that included dark energies, Miranda told the Commander to grab him and bring him with them.

Tali chose to make her entrance about then, and just in time to catch Mirandas order.

"Veetor is sick, he needs help, you are welcome to his omni-tool data but I want to take him home"

"How do we know you will send us the data, your betrayed us last time." Miranda remarked.

"I promise you, he won't be harmed, just want to talk to him about what he saw" Jacob tried to smooth things over, but Tali wasn't having it.

"Prazza and his squad were fools and they paid for that with their lives" She snarled.

"Veetor goes back to the flotilla" Shepard quietly said "Tali will make sure we get the information we need, I am not handing him over to your...investigators" Calen made her stance clear.

Jacob could barely contain his surprise when Miranda inclined her head a little "Of course Commander, whatever you say."

"Take him home Tali" Calen turned to her friend "When you are done doing whatever it is you are doing, maybe you'll be able to come help me"

"If I can" Tali nodded "and thankyou Shepard, I am glad Cerberus hasn't changed who you are"

Calen hugged her again and watched her walk away with Veetor, then turned her attention back to the screen which had frozen on the images of the Collectors. She had a really bad feeling about this.

**THE NEW NORMANDY**

Calen listened as Harper explained what he knew about the Collectors, which was, apparently surprisingly little. He confirmed what Miranda and Jacob had already told her, that the Collectors only ever ventured beyond the Omega IV relay when they wanted something, usually specimens with some strange mutation or powers not yet seen.

He also told her that the Omega IV relay was unmapped, the simple explanation had been that whatever vessel went through it, never came back from it. Sort of like the Bermuda Triangle of space. He surmised that the only reason the Collectors made it back and forth had to be some sort of signal from their ship, that in turn allowed them safe passage through the relay. He also confirmed that they were working for the Reapers.

Calen, still conflicted about the past and the present begrudgingly accepted that this did need to be dealt with, although she was not overly pleased to hear that aside from leaving her for dead...well OK she was dead, but not bothering to come find her, the Alliance and the Council were doing nothing, oh no wait..the council never did do anything, why did she risk all those lives when the council would just do the same damn thing...stick their thumbs up their arses and do sweet FA because it was again, humans that were suffering and therefore nothing to do with them.

It made her want to vomit.

She argued with Harper over the team she wanted, when she listed off her former team he had an answer for everything. Liara was working for the Shadowbroker according to his sources and therefore not to be trusted.

Calen didn't want to hear that, she had always trusted Liara, both professionally and personally, it was still a shock to hear that the quiet archaeologist Prothean Expert was now some big shot Intel broker working for the same bastard who wanted to hand her over to the Collectors. She would get to the bottom of that, no matter what. Even if it was just to give her heart and soul some closure.

No one had seen Garrus in over two years, all they knew was that he had left C-Sec about three months after the Alliance declared Shepard dead.

Wrex hadn't left Tuchunka in over a year and it appeared that he was rebuilding the Krogan, Calen was glad to hear that one, he deserved it.

Ashley had been promoted and was out somewhere in space, but her file was too classified for even the Illusive Man to get his hands on, which bothered him. It bothered Calen too, she was proud to hear that Ash finally got recognised for her hard work and the ghost of her grandfather off her back, but something told her that there was more to this then met the eye...on both sides. The Illusive man was not telling her everything not that she expected him too.

Tali, well considering the history with Cerberus, he had been surprised that the Quarians had forwarded Veetors data. It seemed that she was the only one he actively considered, but he wanted more information before he would even commit to that. He told her that she would get a team together. It was what she was good at and it was what she did best. People followed her, be it through natural command charisma or just her personality, it was what they did.

"You know you really do remind me of your father, he had that natural command ability" Harper was a little wistful.

"I told you to leave my parents out of this" Calen warned.

"I miss him too Calen...he was my stepbrother after all."

"My father had no problems with aliens," She snarled, "and don't expect me to call you uncle, you did fuck all for me when Mindoir was attacked and I was left to fend for myself."

"Your father was one of the founders of Cerberus" Harper got up "but we had some disagreements, it was the only time we fell out for a while. I tried to find you but you had been shifted off to some foster family and I lost track of you"

"Are you enjoying fucking with my head? First I get told I was resurrected by Cerberus after being dead as dead can be, then I am told my lover is a public enemy who handed my body over to you bastards, now you're telling me we are family!" She snapped "and my father was a pro-human bigot!"

"I meant to tell you gently" he admitted. "Things got a little heated"

She shook her head "Is there anything else?" She wanted away from here, away from this man.

"I think I found a pilot you might like, one I know you can trust. We will talk again Calen, privately, I promise"

He cut the connection and Shepard shook her head. Her mind reeling once more until she heard...

"Calen...Commander is that really you"

She span round to see Joker limp in and if it weren't for his vroliks syndrome she would have hugged him so hard his bones would have shattered.

"Joker..what the hell!" She beamed a genuine smile "What are you doing with this bunch of fickwits?"

"I could ask you the same thing, I saw you get spaced" Joker replied and held her hand for a moment "When the Alliance picked us up they set to work tearing apart all that you had built, sealed records, broke apart the team, hell they grounded me and stopped me from doing the one thing I enjoy"

"Why?" Calen walked alongside him, slowly taking in what he said "Anderson believes us about the Reapers, he's the human councillor, why would he allow it?"

"We're still the newbies on that score Commander, Valern over rode everything Anderson said and requested everything be sealed and hushed up, so I joined Cerberus. I know they have a bad past but hell Calen, they brought you back, let me fly and then there is this...I only found out about it last night"

They stopped by a viewing window and suddenly darkness transformed into light, onto the most beautiful ship Calen had seen since her old one died. She felt her heart soar and could hear the pride in Jokers voice as he gasped "She's beautiful"

She was a frigate, in the same design as the Normandy except a bit bigger, she flew Cerberus colours but there was no mistaking it, this was a ghost she could happily live with.

"I guess we are going to have to give her a name huh Jeff"

"There is only one name for her" Joker nodded.

"That there is Joker, that there is"

The Normandy SR2 moved slowly out of her hanger and gracefully flew off. Calen, Miranda and Jacob walked down the central aisle and Shepard smiled as she saw the C-I-C, bigger, more up to date and it was all hers.

"Welcome aboard the new Normandy Commander"

Jacobs voice seemed far away as many memories flooded the Commanders mind. She could almost imagine Pressley standing at the Navigation console, and a few others here and there. She listened as Miranda told her there was a full crew compliment, and then the XO suggested that they start looking for Doctor Mordin Solis, they would need a counter measure against the collectors swarms if they were to even stand a chance against the Collectors themselves.

"Doctor Solis was last seen on Omeaga and it would indeed make perfect sense to seek him out first" a disembodied voice echoed around the CIC.

"What the...who are you?" Shepard asked.

"I am the Enhanced Defence Intelligence, the crew call me EDI" EDI introduced herself.

"An AI? I have an AI on my ship?" Calen scowled a little.

"Have I offended you Shepard?"

Calen shook her head "No, I am sorry, you know, pilots don't like it when their ship talks back to them, especially Joker"

"I am here to offer advice and keep my eyes on the away team, I manage the defences of the Normandy and nothing more, Mister Moreau will have no problems with me on taking his flying abilities away from him"

The voice went silent and Shepard turned her attention to Taylor and Lawson. "I am going to introduce myself to the crew and then I will be in my quarters for a while, if one of you would care to bring me the dossiers on who Harper has targeted for recruitment, I would appreciate it"

"I will be up in half and hour Commander" Miranda acknowledged, curious as to who Harper was.

Shepard watched them leave and headed to the bridge, mindful of the slightly turned heads as she passed. The crew of the SR2 couldn't believe they were in the presence of a legend. The first human SPECTRE, the saviour of the Citadel, the lone warrior of Acuze. They felt her presence even before she passed them and the pride began to settle in their chests.

The Alliance left her for dead, they found her, she would save the Colonists, just as she had saved the galaxy two and a half years ago. She was Shepard and they would do anything she asked of them, because they knew she would never ask them to do anything she herself was not prepared to do.

She walked onto the bridge as Joker turned in his new seat. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Look at this Commander, its my baby, she back and she's better then ever, and look leather seats! Civilian comfort on a military vessel. The alliance just do not make them like this."

"The Normandy SR2 is not meant to be a comfort Mister Moreau, it was designed to make it easier for you to do your job." a holographic interface popped up beside Joker and his happy face dropped.

"And there's the pisser, I preferred the Normandy when she was quiet and didn't tell me if I left the airlock door ajar or my flies were undone."

"Its just a copy Joker, might take a while for me to get used to her."

"Oh come one Calen...Leather seats"

"Is that all you can think about?"

"No, but at the moment...leather seats"

Shepard rolled her eyes and looked at EDI "How you and Joker getting along EDI?"

"Mister Moreau thinks it is an insult that I am installed aboard "his" ship"

"Ah take no notice" Shepard sat herself on a seat across from EDI "You'll get used to him, we all do. So tell me what functions do you perform?"

"I have a highly developed cyberwarefare suite, as well as advance fighting capabilities."

"Cybernation? That's hacking and virus's right?"

"Nice to see all that time spent with Tali has rubbed off" Joker quipped.

"Yes Shepard, I can hack into an enemies computers via their wireless network, I can bring their weapons off line, their shields down and cause their engines to stop or go into meltdown. I can also resist any hacking attempt from their side. I monitor the crews health and observe any battle information that may have been missed."

"Sounds useful, why isn't there more people like that aboard a vessel?" Shepard rubbed her jaw.

"These tasks can only be performed by an AI due to the speed and the multitasking capabilities involved, unfortunately we are suspect" her tone dropped a little.

"Well you know, might have something to do with how an AI nearly caused the end of life as we know it...just putting that one out there" Joker interrupted. Shepard arched an eyebrow at him "what?"

"Joker, the AI is in the ship and if it gives us an edge against the Collectors then that is OK with me"

"So?"

"So the Normandy has a voice now and I suspect if the original Normandy had a voice then she'd have told you to shut up numerous times" Shepard returned her attention to EDI "You said monitor..are there monitoring devices aboard the ship?"

"The Illusive man has spent billions of credits to get this vessel into shape, it is only natural that he will want to ensure that his investments are running smoothly"

Calen shook her head "always has to be in control" She muttered.

"Your quarters have monitors in them, but I can switch them off Shepard" EDI offered.

"Please do EDI," Shepard was grateful, since he revealed that he was her step-uncle, well it would be a little creepy the thought of him watching her as she slept or coming out the shower. It made her skin crawl thinking about it.

She got to her feet and tipping the hologram a wink she leant over the seat and whispered "be careful Joker, don't want to get caught having a wank in your sleep now do you"

Joker flushed a violent hue and glared at the Commander, "You must be better" He snarled.

"Not really, just find it funny with all that porn you used to have that outside eyes are watching you."

"Hey not funny Calen, do not dis the collection, that kept me company on many a lonely adolescent night"

"and your mother probably cursed the washing she had to do"

Joker smiled a little and looked up at her "Commander, are you really OK?"

"Still trying to adjust to some things, be better when I get working. For now head to Omeaga. What's the ETA?"

"Thirteen hours" Both EDI and Joker said in unison.

Shepard shook her head and left them to it. She walked down to the CIC and stood looking at it for a moment. She could almost hear Presley's voice, fussing over the way the galaxy map was set up, barking orders at the Cerberus crew to bring them into shape. He reminded her of Gunny Ellison at times...he had reminded her of Gunny Ellison.

She stopped as an attractive red headed Yeoman snapped off a clean salute and introduced herself.

"Good evening Commander, I am Yeoman Kelly Chambers, I will be monitoring your mail and inform you of any problems ship board or with the crew"

"No offence Yeoman, but isn't that something that a VI is better suited to do?" Shepard asked.

"Probably and please call me Kelly"

"We'll see" Calen remarked. Kelly brought herself straighter.

As she explained what her duties were, she observed the Commander, she was dealing with trauma, more than she might have had to deal with on Acuze, according to the profile she had read, Shepard had been a relaxed Commander, using her natural personality to bring the crew to speed, at the moment she was nothing of the sort.

She was suspicious of anything to do with Cerberus, given her past dealings with them that was an expected event. She was also dealing with the revelation that she had been dead. A corpse that had been brought back to the land of the living, and that had to have had some effect on her psyche. It might also change her in ways that would seem detrimental to the old her.

She let the Commander go and watched her go into the lift then return to her station.

The walk round her vessel took just over half an hour, she had been relieved to see Karin Chakwas was in the medical bay. The woman had been a constant in her life since Mindoir, she had helped school a frightened 16 year old into a strong adult by offering her a home. To see her foster mother still alive and with her and Joker then at least there was some stability. The Doc had said she would come see her later, once she had taken stock of everything that was in the Medical bay.

She had met Daniels and Donnelly, Donnelly she was not too sure about, Daniels she liked, straight to the point with that New York Accent that was the most widely imitated American accent after the Southern drawl. Donnelly Scottish accent was a little hard to understand but she would get there eventually. Her own accent was a little hard for Terrans to understand. Despite being away from Mindoir for some years, her accent was still as strong as ever and it showed more when she was angry.

She crossed to her desk and saw a picture of Liara there, with a little post it note from Joker saying that he had this redone for her. A welcome home gift. There was also a picture of the original team. Ashley, Kaidan, Wrex, Tali, Garrus, Adams, Pressley, Joker and Liara with the Doc.

She set the pictures down and made herself a coffee just as her door knocked. She called out to come in and Miranda came in with the data slates she wanted to see.

"Help yourself to a coffee XO" Shepard undid her uniforms top buttons and relaxed a little "and tell me what you know about the six we are to pick up."

Miranda sat herself down and set her tea to one side, she was a tea person more than a coffee person, coffee first thing in the morning, the rest of the day was tea.

"Well Doctor Solis was a member of the STG's science division. Like most Salarians he seems to be able to do two or three things at once. His file is surprisingly well classified for someone who apparently was recon only." Miranda handed Calen the pad "he is currently on Omega running a clinic in the Gozu district."

Calen read his file and nodded to herself then set the file down "Next?"

"Next we have a merc named Archangel, although I wouldn't class him as a mercenary, more a vigilante, not much else is known about him except he is male, and is causing the merc gangs on Omega cause for concern, in the year he has been there, the crime rate has considerably dropped"

"Bet that doesn't please Aria" Shepard muttered.

"No but it enables her to fill any vacuum with her own people. You have met her then?" Miranda asked.

"No just know her by reputation only. Bit of a Narcissist from what I can gather"

"She does like things done her way and no deviations from that but that's a pretty good sum up of her character Shepard."

"With any luck I won't have to deal with her that much" Calen mused.

"Unfortunately as we are heading for Omeaga, chances are, we will"

"Great" Shepard groaned "Next?"

Miranda handed her a dossier on Zaed Massani, human and a merc operating more as a bounty hunter and judging by his file, an highly priced one at that. She was reminded of Wrex, he had been a bounty hunter when she had met him on the citadel. But that's where the similarities ended. Massanis file spoke of a cold efficient hunter who never took a job he couldn't finish and he never stopped hunting for his quarry, even if they eluded him for months, he eventually found them.

Kasumi Goto, not much on her except that she was the best thief in the galaxy, wanted in a dozen systems for grand larceny. She was an infiltrator, good for her choice of work, she wasn't sure why the thief was picked until she saw that Kasumi was also a very good alien tech hacker. The Japanese woman certainly knew her way around that was for certain.

O'Keer, a Krogan warlord who was also a genetic scientist, his reputation spoke of hatred, by the sounds of it he was not well liked on Tuchunka and that alone said something. Miranda pointed out that if O'Keer was ever seen on Tuchuncka then he was hunted by other clans, they teamed up and set aside their own differences for what they saw as his abominations on the Krogans natural order of things.

Finally. A dossier on a criminal called Jack, a powerful biotic, and psychotic. Mirandas expression said all really, Calen didn't need to ask, she wondered why the Illusive man wanted such an unstable element. Still they would find out at some point.

Calen looked up as the doctor came in, "Get some rest Miranda, I want you and Taylor ready to leave when we dock at Omeaga"

"Yes Commander" Miranda got up and nodded politely to the doctor before taking her leave.

Karin sat herself next to her foster daughter and handed her a shot of Haig Whiskey. Calen looked down into the whisky glass and ran her finger round it.

"You were friends with my mum doc, how well did you know my dad?"

"Jason?" Karin shrugged a little "He had been an Alliance Engineer, Hannah always said he other irons in the fire though, before he took to living on Mindoir, why do you ask?"

"Did you know the Illusive Man was his step-brother"

Karin stared at her, her jaw opened a little "No, Jason never spoke about his family."

"Yup Jack Harper is my uncle, and it turns out my dad was a bigot too. Co-founded Cerberus and did a lot of work for them before he met mum, or maybe it was because of mum that he retired and settled down, I don't know" She shrugged "It's like every memory I have of him is now shattered. He was always telling me to be more open minded, turns out he was as closed minded as a book" she sipped her whisky.

Karin shook her head, "I knew there were elements of Jason's past that Hannah did not like but, well I never knew all this...did the Illusive man tell you all this?"

"Yeah" Calen lay her head back "What a lousy week, best thing about it is working with you and Joker again."

The Doc rested her hand over Calens, nothing needed to be said, the fact she was there gave comfort to the woman she had raised from the age of 16.

And that was all that really was needed.


End file.
